Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

There was a dead silence.

Father and son stood facing each other.

As a minister and a son, Zhu Biao did not retreat even a step this time. He looked up at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Now that the imperial guards have arrived, all officials are in a panic. Everyone in the court is in danger. Father, we can't let the imperial guards mess around anymore!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "The Jinyiwei only arrests those who should be arrested. You just said that wherever the imperial guards go, all officials are in a panic. Isn't that good? Knowing what to be cautious of is good. A little fear in the heart will not harm them. As long as they don't commit any crime, nothing will happen."

But is this really the case?

In Zhu Biao's view, Zhu Yuanzhang had obviously gone too far this time.

"Those with irrefutable evidence naturally deserved to be punished, but the rest were implicated and sent to prison, innocent and sentenced, without any witnesses or physical evidence. They were convicted based on only three or five statements from Miki."

"What is this, a melon vine copy?"

Zhu Biao opened his mouth and found it a little dry, so he said, "Father, do you really want to continue investigating?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "The Jinyiwei are responsible for impeaching officials and are allowed to do as they see fit."

"The country has its own laws. Even if we want to enforce discipline, we must follow the rules. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, we have clarified etiquette to guide the people and enacted laws to punish the stubborn. Our Ming Dynasty Code has twelve chapters, thirty volumes, and six hundred and six articles. This was personally established by you, my father. Which article among them allows the Jinyiwei to arrest officials at will without going through the court?" Zhu Biao became more and more excited as he spoke, and at the end he almost slammed the table when he said these words to his father.

But what Zhu Biao said was nothing in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

"Dad did kill a lot of people, but they were all lawless nobles, rebellious soldiers, and corrupt officials. I didn't kill any of the good people. The Fengtian Palace was full of blood, but our Ming Dynasty was thriving. Whether it was population, cultivated land, money, grain, or taxes, they were far more than in previous dynasties. Dad's killing was worth it. Dad will never regret it!"

"You can't go too far to correct a wrong, and you have to take the liberty when things get urgent. If the three judicial officials hadn't been ungracious and neglected their duties, why would I have set up this Jinyiwei. Biao'er, you must know that it is better for one family to cry than for all to cry, and it is better for all officials to cry than for the people to cry!"

It is better for officials to cry than for the people to suffer.

This was Zhu Yuanzhang’s answer.

But in this world, there will always be some people who are not afraid of death.

A tavern in the capital.

Several Confucian scholars drank a few more glasses of wine and began to talk loudly about the recent behavior of the Jinyiwei.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Wu's way of employing people is being used now. Under the severe punishment, everyone is in danger. It is inevitable that some villains will come forward to report in order to protect themselves."

"The current Jinyiwei is even more powerful than Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen."

"Brother Xizhi, please be careful with your words. The Jinyiwei was established by His Majesty himself and they act according to His Majesty's orders."

"So what if your Majesty established it? All things in the world are based on reason. Right is right and wrong is wrong. When your Majesty established the Jinyiwei, my teacher once advised the Crown Prince that this was not a good policy. Now it seems that Master Song was right."

The person who spoke out against the shortcomings of the Jinyiwei was none other than Fang Xiaoru, a student of Song Lian.

After Song Lian's death, Zhu Biao, as his student, perhaps out of guilt, specially promoted Fang Xiaoru to the Hanlin Academy. Of course, with Fang Xiaoru's literary talent, there was no problem for him to be a Hanlin lecturer.

Some of the things Fang Xiaoru said are indeed true.

In such a large-scale action of collective punishment, it was natural that some people were wrongly accused, including Huang Jing, a member of the Ministry of Revenue and also a student of Song Lian.

Huang Jing was a man of integrity who could not bear the humiliation. When the Jinyiwei came to arrest him, he simply hit his head against the wall to die in order to prove his innocence.

These days Fang Xiaoru ran back and forth in Kyoto for this matter, but because of the establishment of the Jinyiwei, in the end no one dared to stand up for this matter.

When he thought of this, Fang Xiaoru picked up the wine bowl in front of him and took a big gulp, as if he had finally made a decision at this moment.

The next day. It was still dark.

Outside Chengtian Gate, the sound of drums could be heard all day long.

Boom!Boom!Boom!
Fang Xiaoru bit his lip and waved the drumstick back and forth.

The guards on duty came out one after another upon hearing the sound.

Fang Xiaoru seemed to be unaware of this. Amid the drumbeats, he shouted in a heart-wrenching voice towards the direction of the imperial city: "Huang Jing, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was harmed by a traitor. We have a complaint to make, but we are in a state of panic, and there is no place to tell our grievances."

Boom!
Boom!Boom!
The drumbeats continued.

"Your Majesty, to what extent are you going to allow these Jinyiwei to do whatever they want?"

East Palace.

Hearing the report from his eunuch, Zhu Biao's brows were deeply furrowed.

"What did you say? Someone is knocking on the gate of Chengtian to complain?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the person beating the drum is Fang Xiaoru."

Hearing Fang Xiaoru's words, Zhu Biao quickly raised his hand to signal the palace maids who were tidying up his clothes and appearance to go down. He picked up the hat beside him and rushed towards the Fengtian Hall.

Some officials who were used to arriving early for court also saw what Fang Xiaoru had done. Some officials who were familiar with him hurried forward to persuade him, "Master Fang, you can't do that!"

You must know that knocking on the door and complaining outside Chengtian Gate is a big deal.

But what could Fang Xiaoru do?

No one is willing to help, and he has nowhere to appeal. What else can he do except take this last step?
It’s a pity that the one waiting for him was not His Majesty, but the Jinyiwei who came out of the imperial city in a line.

Mao Xiang, the commander of the Imperial Guard, looked at Fang Xiaoru with an extremely cold gaze and said, "Master Fang, if you stop now, there is still room for maneuver."

But Fang Xiaoru had no idea about the Jinyiwei. He just kept beating the drum over and over again, and kept shouting: "The sun is shining, the sun is shining!"

Mao Xiang didn't waste any more words. He raised his hand and his Jinyiwei guards rushed forward with fire sticks, pulled Fang Xiaoru down, and then beat him with sticks.

A little while.

Fang Xiaoru was already covered in blood, but he was still shouting those words.

"The sky is clear, the sky is clear"

The scene was horrific.

Seeing this, some officials around wanted to step forward to stop it, but were forced back by Mao Xiang's gaze.

"My Lords, the morning court session is about to begin. Please do not delay here," Mao Xiang said.

Listening to the screams ringing in my ears and thinking about the sleepless nights recently, I don’t know who finally mustered up the courage to take the lead and kneeled down outside Chengtian Gate.

Seeing this, the other officials also knelt down.

Mao Xiang saw that the situation was escalating to a point where he could no longer handle it. Just as he was about to do something, a shout rang out.

"Mao Xiang, tell those people under your command to stop immediately!" (End of this chapter)